Second Thoughts
by Settiai
Summary: Sometimes first impressions could be wrong. :: Kaylee/Zoe


Kaylee couldn't hide the worry in her voice as the captain came rushing into the cargo bay, half dragging a mostly unconscious Zoe. "What happened?" she asked, her gaze immediately focusing on the bloody cloth wrapped around Zoe's shoulder.

"Long story," Mal shot back. "Come take her for a second."

Mal practically shoved Zoe into her arms as he hurried to the intercom, and Kaylee had to quickly lock her legs to keep from going sprawling on the ground. Zoe was a lot heavier than she looked. Biting her lip, Kaylee slowly knelt down, letting Zoe come to a rest on the ground.

_"Wash, I need you to get us out of here!"_

Kaylee didn't even glance back at the captain as he yelled at Wash. She'd learned a lot about life on _Serenity_ over the past three months, namely that the captain and Wash could deal with the daring escapes. She was more worried about Zoe, though. Even though the other woman hadn't been nearly as friendly with her as the other two, she had grown used to her.

Without saying a word, she peeled away the cloth covering her shoulder. When she saw the bloody bullet hole that it had been covering, she couldn't help but flinch.

"Oh, that doesn't look good," she muttered.

_"Let me guess, things didn't go as planned?"_

Zoe moaned, her eyes fluttering slightly. After a few seconds, she managed to focus her gaze on Kaylee's face. "Kaylee?"

"It's me," Kaylee said, gently brushing a few locks of dark hair out of Zoe's face. "Don't worry, you're gonna be fine."

"What happened?" Zoe asked, confused.

Kaylee managed a weak grin. "I was actually gonna ask you," she admitted. "All I know is that you got shot."

_"You could say that! Trust me, Wash, we really don't want to stick around here. Hurry it up, will you?"_

Zoe closed her eyes, grimacing slightly in pain as she took a few deep breaths. "I guessed that much," she said dryly.

"Third time in as many months that someone's been shooting at one of you," Kaylee said, her tone light. "The captain didn't mention that when he hired me, you know."

"From what I hear," Zoe said, opening her eyes again, "one look at your pa convinced the captain that he wanted to go pretty sparingly on the details of our line of work."

Kaylee couldn't help but grin.

_"I'm doing the best I can!"_

Zoe started to prop herself up, hissing in pain as she put pressure on her injured shoulder. Kaylee quickly grabbed her by the good arm, supporting her the best she could. "Don't move," Kaylee muttered, quickly yanking a clean rag from her pocket. "You're gonna end up bleeding to death if we don't get some pressure on that wound."

Kaylee quickly pressed the cloth against Zoe's injury, an apologetic look appearing on her face when Zoe let out a gasp. "Sorry," Kaylee said softly. "The captain or Wash would probably be better at this, but I think they're a little busy right now."

They both flinched as the distinctive sound of bullets hitting the side of the ship reached their ears.

_"Wash! Now would be good!"_

"I think you might be right about that," Zoe agreed, shooting her a weak smile. "Not so sure about Wash or the captain doing a better job."

Kaylee raised an eyebrow. "Considering how often these jobs of yours seem to go wrong, I'd think they had plenty of experience with fixing up bullet holes."

Zoe chuckled. "You'd be surprised," she admitted. "Wash would probably keep on talking until I bled to death, and the captain. . ."

Kaylee shot her an amused look as she trailed off. "What about the captain?"

"The captain ain't exactly known for his bedside manner."

_"Gorramit, Mal, why are there people shooting at us?"_

They trailed off into silence for a moment, Zoe breathing heavily as Kaylee pressed down on her shoulder. Then the older woman sighed.

"Kaylee, how old are you?"

Kaylee started, a surprised look appearing on her face as she glanced down at Zoe. "You know how old I am," she said slowly. "The captain told you back when I first came on board."

Zoe blinked. "And how would you know about that?"

"Oh." Kaylee's face reddened slightly. "You weren't supposed to know that I overheard that. You didn't sound too happy when the captain told you."

_"How should I know why they're shooting at us?"_

Zoe reached up and gently laid her hand on top of Kaylee's. "You know I didn't mean it like it sounded."

"It sounded like you thought I was too young to do the job," Kaylee said, shrugging. She carefully kept her gaze from meeting Zoe's. "You're not the only who's thought that."

_"Because you and Zoe were the ones who went out on the job, Mal!"_

Zoe sighed. "Do you know where I was when I was seventeen?"

"That would have been around the time that the war started, wouldn't it?" Kaylee asked, a hint of a smile on her face.

"Flattery doesn't work on me," Zoe said, weakly reaching up to swat her arm. "You know very well how old I am."

Kaylee didn't even try to hide her smile. "You know, most women would take it as a compliment if someone thought they were five years younger than they really are."

Zoe just shook her head. "I'm not most women," she said. "Now, do you know where I was when I was your age?"

"No," Kaylee said, finally meeting Zoe's gaze. "I don't know where you were when you were seventeen."

Zoe flinched as Kaylee pressed down on her wounded shoulder a little. "You were partly right earlier. I was in the military already."

Kaylee kept watching her.

"By the time I was seventeen, I'd seen . . . a lot of things," Zoe continued. "Done a lot of things."

Kaylee slowly shook her head. "I'm a mechanic, Zoe, not a soldier," she said softly.

Zoe smiled at her. "Like you said earlier, third time in as many months that someone's been shooting at us.."

_"Wash, what is taking you so long?"_

Without warning, _Serenity_ suddenly lifted off. Kaylee let out a shriek as she lost her balance, and she ended up sprawled on top of Zoe. She missed hitting her injured arm by less than an inch. "Um, sorry?" she offered as she pushed herself up.

"It's fine," Zoe said, grimacing. "Let's get me to the infirmary."

----------

Kaylee carefully pulled off Zoe's shirt, frowning as when she saw wound clearly for the first time. "I'm no doctor, but that doesn't look too good."

"At least the bullet went all the way through," Zoe pointed out, glancing down at her shoulder. "Could've been a lot worse."

"It's bad enough as it is," Kaylee shot back.

Shaking her head, she walked over to the nearest cabinet and started rifling through it. She yanked out a large bottle, studied it for a moment, and then carried it over to the counter so that she could go through one of the drawers.

Zoe watched her intently.

After a minute or so of searching through the drawer, Kaylee turned around. She raised an eyebrow when she caught sight of Zoe watching her. "What?"

Zoe smiled. "I was just thinking," she replied. "You've only been here three months, but you walk around _Serenity_ like you've been here forever."

"Ah." A thoughtful look appeared on Kaylee's face. "Sometimes it feels like I've been here forever, you know. It's hard remembering what like was like living planetside, not being out here in the black."

"You don't miss your home?"

Kaylee bit her lip. "I feel bad saying it, but it doesn't feel like home anymore. It was just a place I lived for awhile. But _Serenity_. . . ."

Zoe smiled at her. ". . .but _Serenity_ feels more like home than anywhere else you've ever been?"

"Pretty much," Kaylee admitted, a hint of curiosity in her eyes. "How'd you know that?"

"Do you really think you're the only one who feels that way?" Zoe asked, gesturing for Kaylee to come back over to where she was sitting.

Kaylee started toward her, but then her gaze drifted down to Zoe's bloody shoulder and her eyes widened. "Your shoulder!"

Zoe chuckled as Kaylee hurried back over to where she was, her arms loaded with supplies. "I told you already, it ain't that bad."

"Let me be the judge of that," Kaylee snapped back.

Zoe just raised an eyebrow. "I thought you weren't a doctor."

"Last time I checked no one else on this boat was either!"

Kaylee's face reddened, and she quickly turned her attention to cleaning Zoe's shoulder. Zoe just smiled and reached up to gently pat Kaylee on the arm. "You're doing a fine job, Kaylee."

Zoe started to say something else, but she paused when she heard familiar footsteps heading their way. As Mal stepped into the doorway of the infirmary, she nodded. "Captain."

"Zoe," he replied, "how are you doing?"

"Just a scratch, sir."

He snorted at that. "I'll bet."

Mal turned his attention away from Zoe then and focused his gaze on Kaylee. All it took was one look at the flustered look on Kaylee's face and started toward her. "Kaylee, how 'bout you go and help Wash," Mal said. "One of those bullets caused a small leak over on the aft side that needs to be patched up. Leave the doctoring to me."

Kaylee bit her lip, but she reluctantly handed over the supplies she was holding. Then she glanced over at Zoe and immediately burst into giggles at the horrified look that had appeared on her face after Mal's announcement.

The captain just stared at them. "What?"

----------

Kaylee didn't even look up when she heard the sound of footsteps coming up behind her in the dining area. She knew exactly who it was. "Hi, Zoe."

"You're getting better at that," Zoe said with a chuckle. She lay her cup down on the table and then clumsily pulled a chair out from the table, being careful not to jar the sling that her left arm rested in.

"Not too hard," Kaylee replied, shrugging. "The captain's boots are heavier than yours, and Wash never comes up behind me without talking."

Shaking her head in bemusement, Zoe picked up her cup and took a sip. "Wash never does anything without talking,"

"True, true." Kaylee picked up her own glass and downed the rest of her drink. "You do realize that he likes you, right?"

Zoe raised an eyebrow. "Kaylee, I don't think there's anyone alive who doesn't know it," she said, not even trying to hide the amusement in her eyes. "He's not exactly subtle about his advances."

Kaylee stared at her empty cup, carefully avoiding Zoe's gaze. "Do you like subtle?"

"Not really," Zoe replied, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Never saw the point in it myself."

When Kaylee didn't reply after several seconds, Zoe suddenly drew a sharp intake of breath. She reached out and pulled the glass out of Kaylee's hands, putting it down on the table out of the way. Then she pressed her right hand under Kaylee's chin, forcing the younger girl to look up at her. "Oh, Kaylee," she said softly.

Kaylee managed a weak smile. "I better go. First thing in the morning, the captain wants me to make sure that those people shooting at us didn't mess up anything else that's important."

She started to push herself away from the table, but Zoe grabbed her before she had a chance to get out of her seat. Even with one arm, Kaylee wasn't any match for her.

Before she even had a chance to react, Kaylee felt Zoe press her lips against hers. A rush of surprise went through her, followed by a mental command of _bèn dàn, kiss her back!_

It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt much longer. Kaylee was breathless as Zoe pulled away, and her eyes were wide with surprise. "I thought you didn't like subtle," she managed to choke out.

Zoe smiled as she pushed herself out of her chair. Once she was on her feet, she reached out and carefully brushed a few strands of hair out of Kaylee's face. "You're a sweet girl, Kaylee Frye," she said, gently. "Never change."

As Zoe turned and walked away, all Kaylee could do was watch her and smile.


End file.
